Part of Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte, book 12
First published 1985
Two women disappear while hiking in the mountains. A police officer investigating their vanishing turns up dead from gunshot wounds. Detective Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte takes the case and travels in disguise to a isolated hotel where the missing women were last spotted. At this remote establishment, Bonaparte meets an cultured proprietor who plays organ music and radiates menace. The man's father lives in terror but keeps his secrets close. A former paratrooper from Texas practices knife throwing on the grounds. Nearby sits a sheep station that operates in ways no ordinary ranch should. Bonaparte pieces together clues that point to a conspiracy far more elaborate than simple murder. His investigation draws him deeper into danger as the truth emerges. The detective's pursuit of answers nearly destroys him before he can expose what really happened in these mountains.
Genres: adventure, suspense, mystery, crime, thriller, detective
Vibes: atmospheric, dark, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: amateur-detective, investigation, remote-setting, secrets
Setting: Mountains, Texas, Sheep Station
Period: 20th-Century
192 pages · Paperback · Scribner Paper Fiction
Content warnings: violence